In modern chess practice, the theory of the opening oft en stretches into the middlegame, sometimes quite deeply. When players choose particular opening variations, they are in essence deciding on the type of middlegame in which they would like to fight their opponents.

Opening play is in general not the subject of this book, although I did pay attention to opening ideas in the cases where I felt I had something useful to say on the subject (in the particular game selected).The aim of this book is to off er the reader a spectrum of middlegame ideas/strategies, thereby inspiring and improving their practical tournament play.

In the second volume of my “Chess Middlegame Strategies” series I have decided to focus on this connection between the opening and the middlegame. I have selected different themes from popular openings and examined the resulting middlegames, trying to off er a sort of user manual to guide readers through these middlegames. I have also offered some ideas on the theory of the different openings. The 30 games in this book cover a wide range of different middlegame types, so I hope there is something for everyone and that studying this book will enhance readers’ understanding of middlegame strategies.